Spawn of Former Evil
by RegalPrincessOfMagic
Summary: Why does James Sirius Potter have to be so reckless? Harry Potter asks himself as he berates himself over the disappearance of his son. Was it that James had lost his mind, or maybe Harry Potter was being a little too protective of his eldest son?
1. Chapter 1

The Thrilling tales of James Potter

Book 1: Spawn of former evil

Chapter One

Finally, Graduation day. James had been waiting for that day in years! Looking back now, those years had been pretty uneventful… of course that was comparing to his dads time in Hogwarts, School of witchcraft and wizardry. Finally James could cut the tie and go on his own way.

"JAMES! CAN YOU PLEASE BRING DOWN YOUR DIRTY LAUNDRY?" James' mother, Ginny, shouted to him from the bottom of the stairs. Well, that hadn't changed since his graduation. Nothing had. James wished people would treat him with more respect. He wanted to be treated like an adult, for heaven's sake. Anyhow, his mum treated him like he was thirteen, his dad wouldn't stop telling stories about the 'those days' and his brother and sister were twice as tiresome. In fact, if it weren't for Teddy, James' god brother, then James thought he could've possibly gone mad.

"JAMES! IM ABOUT TO TURN ON THE WASHING MACHINE AND YOU BETTER GET DOWN HERE WITH YOUR DIRTY LAUNDRY OR YOU'RE GOING TO END UP IN THE MACHINE YOURSELF!" James really didn't want to get out of bed just yet. He was happy to stay there forever if he had to. But his mother's temper was not something to be trifled with, something which he had learnt with years of living in her household.

"MUM, DO I TAKE DOWN THE WHITES OR THE COLOURED?" James yelled back.

"No dear, you'll want the darks, and there's no need to shout the house down,"

James jumped and turned to face his mother. Now he was in trouble, he knew it.

"Sorry mum, I'll get that now,' he quickly grabbed a few random socks, t-shirts and underpants here and there, then made for the door way.

"James dear, those underpants are white. They'll get dyed in the wash." Ginny looked at James apprehensively, "put them down, I'll take them later. Come dear, sit here, we need to talk" she gestured to the space beside her on the bed. James sighed and sat a little too roughly than he intended.

"Mum, I didn't do it you know, it was Albus. You know he's always…" Ginny cut James off in mid-retort.

"James, this isn't about what Albus did, or what you did, that's all in the past right now. What I'm concerned about is the present. You're acting far more distant from the rest of the family than usual." Ah, so his mother had noticed. James had thought that the time he spent on his own comparing to the time he spent with his family hadn't had much of an impact. He thought that they couldn't care less to what he did nowadays. Obviously not.

"I dunno mum, it's just I'm tired and I wanted to spend some time on my own, you know, get used to the fact that I've left school?" James hoped this was enough to shadow the real reason he was hiding in his room.

"Well, please can you make an effort to appreciate your family? You're lucky you're not living with some dark wizard on the loose. In Voldemort time, we didn't know when the next family member was going next. We lost Tonks, Lupin and Dumbledore at the time, and we regretted not getting to know them properly. Please make the most of your time with the rest of us." With that James' Mum gathered the right coloured laundry and trod down the stairs to wash them.

Dinner time was awkward. Nobody spoke and the family cleaned their plates silently. Then, while the mother magically cleaned the dishes, the Dad spoke up.

"So James, have you considered what you want to do now that you've left school?" the father gave his son an expectant glance and went back to reading the newspaper.

"I've been thinking. I want to be a dark wizard catcher. I want to travel on my own catching dark wizards and teaching them a little lesson." The sentence had an instant effect on the atmosphere of the room. The dad put down the newspaper, his knuckles whitening. Mum broke a plate and span round to stare at James. Albus and Lily gave him quizzical looks. "What's wrong, did I say something?"

"James, I don't think that's the career you ought to be following," Mother looked anxious," why don't you get a nice job at the ministry, Hm? Or maybe go and work at Uncle Fred and George's shop? That'd be far better for an impressionable young lad such as you."

"Besides, you'll most probably get killed. You're not like me son. I had mentors. Anyhow, we're all grateful that there's no one posing a danger to us and you're going to go looking for trouble. Just how stupid are you?" James' father had stood up abruptly and slapped the paper on the table. He looked pained. "My mum and dad were killed by a dark wizard for me. The least I could do was stay alive for them. Now you're going to waste all those lives that died for you to live a life. Good luck with life, son, because I'm not going to be there for you if things go wrong." With that, Father stamped to the door and slammed it behind him, his footsteps echoing in the hall outside. The room remained silent for several awkward moments, and then Albus piped up, "well that went well."

Mother waved her wand to finish the dishes, sighed and whispered to James, "go to your room, no, please, just go to your room." That was the end of it. James left the room, his head drooping miserably.

Upstairs, Harry Potter threw himself onto the bed behind him. His head hurt and he was too upset to think. Why did his son have to be so reckless? Harry loved James dearly; just as a father should love his son, but he sometimes worried that James would become _wayward._ Tonight's event had only proved Harry's fears. He didn't want his son to go through the same horrors he had gone through.

The door creaked open and Ginny, Harry's wife, peered in.

"Harry dear, are you ok?" Ginny tested Harry to see if he was in a suitable mood for company.

"Come in Ginny, I'm fine. Here." He patted the bed, beckoning Ginny to sit next to him. She smiled and drifted into the room, turning on the light on her way.

"Sweetheart, please don't get stressed out over what James said, he's just eighteen, he doesn't know his path quite yet." Ginny soothed.

"I don't know honey; I just want him to stay safe. It seems he's inherited both of our sense for adventure, and that's going to get him in trouble. It did for us." Harry cradled his head in his hands.

"Dear, just don't think about it. You've got enough on your plate." Ginny tried yet to comfort her husband.

"But Ginny, we won't be always there to protect him. I need a guarantee that he'll stay alive, and I know you feel the same, don't you?"

"I do Honey. But we can't guarantee anything, you know that. We're all going to die at some point. We just experienced that fact in a more, disturbing way."

"What you and I experienced was far worse than disturbing. We watched our friends and family die in front of us. I don't want to even _hear _that James has died; it'll just be too much for me."

"But don't forget Harry dear, we still have the rest of our friends and family, don't ever forget that."

Harry sighed and whispered, "Don't worry, I won't ever forget, but that fact wouldn't replace James." Harry gently kissed Ginny on her forehead. With that they switched off the light and fell asleep.

James lifted his head from the floor. His parents wanted to guarantee his safety huh? Well, it seemed more like they were trapping him instead. He looked around the hallway. "I should probably get to bed now." James thought. Albus woke up at night to go to the bathroom, and James didn't need any questions. He carefully got up and paused to hear and disturbances. Then he tiptoed cautiously on the edges of the floorboards to avoid creaks. Thankfully, none sounded. James pushed his door open and shut it with a minute click. After that, he let out a breath of relief, realizing that he had held it the whole time. He sprawled out onto his bed, and fell into a deep sleep almost instantly. And he hadn't even removed his clothes…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"JAMES, JAMES, WAKE UP, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A PARTYYYYYY!"

James woke up slightly dazed, thinking, "why do my legs feel rattled?" then realized that Lily was jumping on the bed, landing on his long legs every so often.

"Lils, stop that, you're hurting me." James let Lily have one more bounce then grabbed her and tickled her till she cried with laughter.

"JAMES!" she managed through her laughs, "STOP THAT!" then another giggle, "IM GOING TO WET MYS…" soon Lily was laughing so hard that she was squealing for help from Albus, who happened to be passing by.

"ALBUS…PLEASE…HELP…MEEEE!" James stopped tickling Lily long enough to catch her breath.

"How was that Lils, what did'ya say about a party?" James hugged her tightly.

"Well, mama said that we were going to have a PARTY to celebrate you leaving Hogwarts," Lily pouted, elongating the words which she thought would sound best. "And that we are going to invite EVERYONE!" she twirled and flounced to the door. "Oh, and mama said to come down and help her with the bunting."

James pulled on his trainers at the bottom of the stairs. The garden had been literally transformed. There were now several fold out tables standing in the middle of the lawn. Huge gazebos were hovering over those tables, whilst all the other party objects swirled around them. At the centre of this whirlwind was James' mother, orchestrating everything into place.

"James, can you get that bunting and wrap it around the pear tree, then please put a charm on those rose bushes to get them to shine?" His mother smiled sweetly at him. So James got to work. He pulled out his wand and muttered a charm. Suddenly the colourful bunting snaked its way up the trunk of the pear tree. Soon it had wrapped itself firmly in the whippy branches. Then James turned to the rose bushes. He hated those bushes. He always seemed to fall into them whilst he played quidditch with Albus, Lily, mother and father. James quickly pushed those embarrassing memories to the back of his head and focused on the task at hand. Unfortunately, no spells came to mind which could possibly make roses _shine_. Mother caught the baffled expression on his face, waved her wand, and shot a golden spark at the bushes. They instantly began to glow.

"Thanks mum," mumbled James.

"Go help your father James." Was the reply he received.

Harry Potter was inside, getting ready to go pick up Teddy. He hastily checked his pocket for his wand, then prepared to apparate when James shuffled in.

"What's up James, shouldn't you be helping your mum?"

"No, mum said I should help you," James looked at his toes. Harry hesitated.

"Fine, get your coat, we're going to get Teddy," Harry looked reproachfully at his eldest son retreating down the hallway. He sighed. What was he going to do? Harry certainly didn't want his son to get killed by some psychotic madman who wanted to rule the world. But why didn't James appreciate his father's protectiveness? Maybe Harry was _too _protective? No, that couldn't be it? Hadn't Harry longed for parents to look after him, to fuss over him? Surely James could see that Harry was only trying to give him what he could not have. James bustled into the kitchen, his coat hanging off his left arm.

"James, you don't think I'm too protective, do you?"

James stared at his dad, then went back to his coat. "No, why do you think that?" Then he disappeared, with his father following behind.

Teddy was dragging his day luggage bag to the living room when James and his godfather appeared opposite the furnace. James looked slightly ruffled, but at least he hadn't spliced himself again. James still had a scar from the last time he had done that.

"Nice one James, good to see you in one piece." Teddy patted James on the back.

"Thanks Ted. How've you been?" James grinned at Teddy.

"Not bad pal. Victorie just moved in. It's taken ages for Bill and Fleur to give us permission to live together. I reckon I'll give her a few months to settle in before I propose to her."

His godfather straightened up then exclaimed, "Blimey, it seems like only yesterday you were about his tall," he held his hand round about his waist, "and now you're getting ready to get married!"

"Yeah, well, we've all got to grow up at some point G-dad!" Teddy hoisted his bag onto his shoulder and said, "What d'ya say we get going then. I can't wait for the party!"

Harry was the first to get home. He called out to Ginny, "Honey I'm Home!" then quickly cleared some space for the other two to arrive. Teddy came with a small pop, but James still hadn't come.

"Do you think he's still at your house?" Harry looked at his godson.

"No, I saw him go first. Maybe he apparated to a different place?"

"Maybe."

Suddenly a loud 'THUD' sounded from the walls. Startled, Harry and Teddy looked around to see where the sound had come from. It came again. THUD THUD THUD. It kept on coming. Then, a dark figure crashed down from the ceiling, showering the men underneath in rubble and fine white dust. The dark figure looked up.

"JAMES!"

James looked sheepish, got up, brushed down his clothes, and then preceded to doing the same to Teddy and his dad. Upon seeing their furious expressions, he lifted his arms up in surrender and said, "I must've been thinking about those cakes I hid under the floorboards on the way back."

Dad and Teddy looked at each other in awe, then burst into hysterical laughter.

"You stupid guy, how in the world did you manage that!" Teddy guffawed.

Dad looked around hastily to see that mother wasn't about, then whispered hurriedly, "we've got to get this cleaned up before you're mother sees this, or we'll all be in for it!"

"No prob's G-dad, I've got it covered," Teddy whipped out his wand and pointed it at various different points. Then, with a flourish, he flicked it up and all the rubble retreated back to their former places. Everything was back to normal again.

"Thanks Ted, here, let's get your stuff to my room. You'll be bunking there." James shot his wand at Teddy's bag and it instantly began to hover at his command. The two god-brothers made their way up the stairs, with the bag trailing at the rear.

It was Lily who saw the first guests arrive. She was playing outside with her toy broomstick when she spotted Mr and Mrs Weasley and their two children appear just by the front gate.

"AUNTIE HERMOINE! UNCLE RON!" she squealed as they casually opened the gate and let their kids in.

"Hello Lily honey, come here and give your auntie a kiss," Mrs Weasley knelt down and opened her arms, ready to embrace Lily. Lily ran and collided into her aunt, the toy broomstick history to her, and gave her a huge kiss on the cheek. Then they stood up, and with Lily in the lead, strolled down the path to meet Mrs Potter, Lily's mum.

"Darling Ginny, how've you been? I hear James did exceptionally well in his NEWTS! You must be so proud, oh but you have Albus now in OWLS! They must've been both up to their ears in studying!" Hermione hugged Ginny, her face beaming profusely. When she saw her husband standing behind her, she clasped her hand into his. They followed Ginny inside.

"Oh wow, your house is incredibly tidy! And the children are as lovely as ever. You certainly know how to run a sweet household Ginny," Hermione gasped in admiration. She spotted Harry coming out of the kitchen, holding several mugs magically, and tilted her head.

"Oh dear, Harry, you shouldn't have! How kind of you!" she thanked him and sipped her coffee.

Ron stood up, looked at his lifelong friend, and then hugged him. They parted and sat on the couch opposite, talking animatedly about something manly, like the newest broom model.

Ginny settled in next to her sister in law. "So Hermione, how have _you _been? I haven't seen you since, well, ok. We saw each other last week, but to me it seems like ages! How are Rose, and Hugo!"

"Well I 've been busy. But it's been nothing really. Only Rose is a little upset about her grades. She got an 'exceptional' for everything except sports, but then, she's never been a budding Quidditch player, so I'm not that worried. Hugo couldn't care less at the moment. He's so wrapped up the new broom we got him that we barely ever see him. He's usually outside flying."

It was several minutes when Ginny said that she needed to finish the party food. So the two women disappeared into the kitchen, chatting enthusiastically.

Upstairs, James was sitting cross-legged on his bed when Hugo peeked around the door.

"Hey, can I join you?" Hugo tentatively asked.

James turned to the door and with a huge grin on his face, said, "Since when did you have to ask Hugo, course you can come in!" James got up and opened the door to its full extent, then bowed graciously, allowing Hugo to enter the room.

"Hugo! How you doing mate!" Teddy got up and shook Hugo's hand.

James looked surprised and exclaimed, "Blimey Ted! Since when did you bother with formalities?"

"Ever since you started bowing to people," Teddy came back at him. He gestured Hugo to the window and said, "What d'ya say we grab our broomsticks and sneak out for a quick fly around before the party?" Teddy opened the window and mentally told himself not to crash into the old willow tree several fields away.

"Hugo, did you bring your broom? I heard you got a new one. I've been dying to see it!" James patted Hugo on the back and then left the room to go find his one.

Hugo felt happy. He loved to fly, so when Teddy mentioned taking the brooms out, Hugo had welled up with euphoria. Now he could show the other guys how good he was at flying. His father had said once, "Good thing you didn't inherit your mothers inability to ride a broom!" His father had got a deathly glare from mother for that. But it wasn't just the riding, it was the fact that, albeit their age difference, James and Teddy had included Hugo with open arms. They didn't seem to mind that he was the youngest, as the older students at Hogwarts had.

"Here I got mine and yours. By the way Teddy, I apparated to your house to find your broom but I couldn't find it anywhere, so you'd better go and find it before we set off." James handed Hugo the sleek well looked after broom, then took his own and began to polish it. Teddy whirled around and was gone, presumably at his house searching for his missing broomstick.

"So Hugo, how's it been, you know, life? I'm sorry 'bout what happened to Rose by the way." James kept his head down, concentrating on his broom.

"Why, what happened to Rose?" Hugo's expression changed from awkward to confusion/concern.

"Well I heard that she didn't get the grades she wanted, and then got dumped by her boyfriend for being so moany about it." James glanced upwards to look at Hugo. Hugo looked unsettled.

"Hey, are you okay? You look upset." James jumped up and tried to find out what damage he had caused this time.

Hugo's face was drained of colour and his hands were shaking. "Rose's boyfriend didn't break up with her because of that. I was the reason. I stumbled in at an awkward moment and he got really angry and started shouting. I yelled back that he should keep his slimy hands of my sister, so he came and hit me. Then Rose shouted and said that if he wasn't going to treat me well then she would dump him right on the spot. He tried to say that I was worthless, but Rose slapped him, so he dumped her instead. Now Rose is really upset because she didn't mean it when she said she would dump him, so it's my entire fault!" Hugo put his head in his hands.

James fell silent. So that's what had happened. He didn't really know what to say, James had never been put in a situation like this. It was just as well that Teddy appeared in the middle of the room victorious, or things would've got really awkward.

"I HAVE IT! Hey, why is Hugo crying? What did you do this time James?" Teddy gave James a retired glare then sat next to Hugo. "Hugo, are you ok? Tell me what's wrong,"

So Hugo retold what happened to him and Rose. When he finished, Teddy patted Hugo on the back and said, "Hugo, it's not your fault. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. And Rose will get over it. She's still in school. School romances never last long, take it from someone who knows." With that he got up and stated, "Last one the old willow and back again is a rotten basilisk egg!"

James yelped, grabbed his broom and zoomed out of the window. Teddy gave Hugo a wink and then soared out of the same window. Hugo stood up, massaged his face, mounted his broom, and followed the others.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was six o'clock when the three friends, Teddy, James and Hugo returned to the big lopsided house at the edge of Godric's Hollow. The sun was setting, and already laughter and conversation drifted out of the garden as guests mingled with their friends and family.

"James, when is James?" Ginny looked around nervously. He was always late, even for his own parties.

"Don't worry Aunt Ginny, they'll be here soon." Victorie peered out from behind her mask.

Ginny sighed. "I do hope he's not hurt or something, it'll be just like him, going off and ruining the day like that,"

"Honestly Aunt Ginny, if James got hurt, then they'd be here by now. Teddy wouldn't let James ride a broom back injured, they'd apparate. No, they're just enjoying themselves too much to notice the time." Victorie readjusted her hair and strode to the table to help herself to some punch.

Then three vague specks began zooming towards the garden. "Urgh, finally!" Ginny breathed in and got ready to scold the boys…

"JAMES, ARE YOU SURE WERE GOING TO SURVIVE YOUR MUM?" Teddy bellowed over the howling of the wind.

"NAH, SHE'LL GET OVER IT. ANYWAY MUM WONT MAKE A FUSS IN FRONT OF ALL THESE PEOPLE!" James yelled back. It was his fault that they were late. He was the one with the watch, and he had forgotten to look at the time. It felt good, the wind rushing through his hair, the exhilarating dives he dared to take, the incredible speeds he rode with ease. "It is all part of the experience, James, flying makes you free," James' father once said, ruffling James' hair. He could understand that. Flying was in his blood. It was a part of James.

They swiftly made a turn around the garden then landed smoothly behind the bushes, hoping that nobody had seen them. The pals hid their brooms in the shed nearby and quietly sneaked out, heading for the middle of the guests, where their absence would be least noticed. They didn't get very far…

Mother stood in front of them with a furious expression on her face.

"JAMES SIRIUS POTTER, TEDDY LUPIN AND HUGO WEASLEY, I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN DOING IN THE LAST THREE HOURS!" Mother hissed.

"Sorry mum, we must've forgotten the time," James gave an anxious look at the guests to warn mum that now wasn't the time.

"Oh you forgot the time did you? Well, you'll definitely forget the time after you've cleaned up the guests mess after the party, as a punishment." Mum stated curtly and marched off.

"Damn it, James, your mum really knows how to make a person have a bad time when she's angry," Hugo looked at James and Teddy. They just shrugged.

"I'm going to go find Victorie, see you later," Teddy grinned and casually strolled away, keeping an eye out for Victorie. Hugo saw Uncle George and ran to say Hi. That left James on his own, vaguely wondering what he should do.

A tall willowy girl with dark red hair and dark green eyes gently tapped James on the shoulder. He turned to see who it was and was greeted by a freckled face beaming at him.

"James! It's great to see you. I realised you weren't here at the start of the party and thought 'He'd probably be flying'!" The couple hugged each other and laughed.

"I got you a present. I really hope you like it," she opened her purse and, with some difficulty, pulled out a fairly sized object wrapped in brown paper. "Here, open it before Colin sees it and starts asking for one himself."

James smiled and gently unwrapped the delicate paper. Inside the neat packaging was a watch. It was new, and the times, days and dates were placed at their precise points. What was really unique about the watch was that there was miniature moons intricately carved into the gold inside of the watch.

"Bryony! It's beautiful! Where did you get such a thing?" James gasped with delight.

Bryony shrugged and said, "I thought it would suit you."

James looked into Bryony's emerald eyes, so like his own. That's what made him fall in love with her from the first moment he saw her. Only later did he realise how brilliant she was. They stared into each other's eyes for a few moments before a lively song was struck up by the band, causing the magical spell to break. James took Bryony's hand and dragged her to the dance floor, where they started to dance happily, like all the other couples there too.

The clock showed midnight, but the party was still going strong. Now, the band played a slow, love song, which encouraged couples to idly turn around in circles, wrapped in their own love story. Bryony had donned her owl mask and was now searching for Colin, who was also best friends with James. James was sitting at a table; his eyes following the couples spin around, making him feel dizzy just watching them. Finally, he stood up and went in search of Bryony, hoping she would dance with him. He dodged in between the lovers, and spotted a girl about Bryony's height with an owl mask on her face. He walked up towards her, pulled her mask off, and without checking who it was, pressed his lips against hers, thinking it was Bryony.

"JAMES!" Teddy's voice echoed around him in disbelief. James broke the kiss, startled. He looked at the face he held in his hands, and realised with shock that he had made a terrible mistake.

"Victorie?"

Victorie wiped her mouth with her sleeve in disgust and glared at him, "OF COURSE IT'S VICTORIE! WHO DID YOU THINK IT WAS!?" she spat at the ground and fled to Teddy, who pulled her into his arms and stared at James. A look of horror spread across James' face. He knew what was coming next.

"James. I thought you were my friend. How could you?" Teddy whispered.

James gawped, "I thought she was Bryony! They're wearing the same mask!"

Teddy shook his head, "I don't know James. You've really hurt me. And you could've checked who you were kissing. "

Mother and Father came rushing in to see what had happened.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Dad said.

"James just kissed Victorie."

Mum gasped and stared at James, "JAMES! HOW COULD YOU?"

"James! I thought you knew better! Why would you do this to Ted?"

James had had enough. "I DIDN'T MEAN IT! BRYONY AND VICTORIE HAVE THE SAME MASK. I DIDN'T CHECK, OKAY! WHY DON'T YOU ACCEPT THAT! JUST LIKE WHY WONT YOU ACCEPT WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH MY LIFE!?" James let out all his fury, stunning everyone who heard him, which was everyone. Bryony pushed through the crowd and ran up to James. Colin followed her. James turned to them and said, "I'm leaving. If you want to come with me, then grab my arm. If you want to stay, then go and join the rest."

Immediately, Bryony and Colin took hold of James' arm. They swirled and vanished, apparating to goodness knows where James was thinking about at the time.


End file.
